Yellowstone Falls

Summer Vacation 2017, “Out West!”

The Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River...

... so awesome they garnered their own page.

We have seen Yellowstone Falls in various books and magazines. Before we left I was concerned we may be too far away to see it well... I was concerned that the photos we had seen were all with long telephoto lenses.

when we arrived, we learned that...

1)from the furthest viewing point, you can “get the shot” you see in magazines and books with just a 2x zoom
2)you can see the lower falls and upper falls from may other perspectives, including at the bottom of the canyon
3)you can also stand right at the edge of the falls... The Brink of the Upper Falls

“A member of the 1870 Washburn party N. P. Langford gave this brief but poetic description: “A grander scene than the lower cataract of the Yellowstone was never witnessed by mortal eyes.””

source: http://yellowstone.net/waterfalls/yellowstones-waterfalls/lower-falls/

As noted on the Yellowstone Day 1 page...

We didn’t realize at the time that we were upstream of the Yellowstone Falls, which we would discover after lunch.

“The [Yellowstone] river rises on the slopes of Yount Peak in Wyoming’s Absaroka Range and soon enters the southeastern corner of Yellowstone National Park. It then flows northward into Yellowstone Lake, and, after exiting the north end of the lake, plunges 422 feet (129 metres) in two spectacular waterfalls and enters the magnificent Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.”

source: https://www.britannica.com/place/Yellowstone-River

You can visit both the shorter upper falls and the taller lower falls as the Yellowstone River plunges through, and continues to carve, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

They are quite a short distance apart, by river, and only a little further apart by car.

image source: https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/maps.htm

Note:

the shorter upper falls, where we stood “at the brink” are lower-center
and

the taller lower falls, which are the first photographs, are upper center, right where the canyon expands to show its colorful walls.

Ann Marie and I both saw Niagara Falls on family trips growing up.

That is impressive.

Yellowstone Falls are also incredibly impressive.

We purchased at the gift shop “Yellowstone Falls & Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone - Flipbook,” which notes on the last page:

“Up to a 1/4 mile deep and half-mile wide at points, the canyon runs over 20 miles through the east-central region of the park.

A More Recent Development

Geologists think the canyon may date back only 10,000 to 18,000 years . They believe sudden flash flooding of the Yellowstone River carved the volcanically fractured ground material rather than the much slower movement of a glacier.”

More FAQs about the Falls are on the NPS website:
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/canyonfaq.htm

”The Yellowstone River is the force that created the canyon and the falls. It begins on the slopes of Yount Peak, south of the park, and travels more than 600 miles to its terminus in North Dakota where it empties into the Missouri River. It is the longest undammed river in the continental United States.”

source: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/grand-canyon.htm

These views are of the Lower Falls, which plunge about 308 feet,
from Inspiration Point, and these are the images of the Falls that I have seen the most often in magazines and book.

This image, ProCamera, 1/1000 of a second, 2x zoom.

This image captured using the NightCap Camera app, 2x zoom.

Two-second exposure. Time Lapse - long exposure.

This 20-second video is from the same place at Inspiration Point, at the observation deck.

This 20-second video is also from Inspiration Point, about 50 feet to the right of the observation deck, the second positioned so as to “frame” the falls with the nearby trees. You’ll also see I backed off on the zoom.

This photo and video are also from the same position 50 feet to the right of the observation deck, with 2x zoom.

We then visited the Bring of the Upper Falls, which plunges ~ 110 feet, where you can literally almost touch the river... it’s so close and so far away...